This is a tourism related Caribbean related site providing information, photos and news about various Caribbean destinations.

Turquoise net is a tourism-related Caribbean information and news site with links to Caribbean destinations.

On the heels of an unsuccessful meeting Friday night between union leaders and the administration, two more schools had to be closed Monday due to apparent job actions.
Parents of students at Kirwan Terrace Elementary and New Horizons School were notified over the radio stations that students were being sent home due to the absence of staff at the schools.
According to Eric Blake Jr., principal at New Horizons School in Sub Base, each of the teachers at the school called in sick individually, and said they would be in "tomorrow."
Blake notified the superintendent, who ordered the school closed and sent for the buses to take students home.
The school has 51 students, nine teachers and two paraprofessionals.
The two custodial staff members did report for work, according to Blake.
Kirwan Terrace Elementary School was also closed when 95 percent of the teachers failed to show up for school, sources told St. Thomas Source.
The school employs 30 teachers and has just under 500 students.
The principal, Aloma Blake, could not be reached for comment.
A release from the Education Department issued at midday Monday quoted Rosalia Payne, superintendent of schools for the St. Thomas-St. John district, as saying, "The intermittent disorder caused by these continuing sickouts is detrimental to our students. First and foremost the continuous disruption to the instructional process will cause serious harm to the academic performance of our students. We certainly hope that the teachers and support staff will consider the lasting impact their actions have on our community."

Markoe Beacon fall registration will be held from 3 to 6 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 4, through Friday, Oct. 8.
Registrants must bring a $5 photo ID processing fee – $2 validation fee for previous Beacon photo ID card holders; social security #, and shot record for minors.

Addelita Cancryn Beacon menetor registrations, screenings and parent workshop sign ups for parents of mentees to be held from 3-6 p.m. on Oct. 4 – 8.

Registration for the fall Beacon activities will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 4, through Friday, Oct. 8, at the E. Benjamin Oliver School.
Registrants must bring a $5 photo ID processing fee – $2 validation fee for previous Beacon photo ID card holder; social security #, and shot record for minors.
Activity listings will be posted.

The Senate Committee on Planning and Natural Resources on Thursday will scrutinize a permit application for an undersea fiberoptic cable on St. Croix.
The applicants are Global Crossing Inc. and Tyco Submarine Systems Ltd. The companies are seeking a major coastal zone permit to install eight submarine cables in Estate Northside, north of Frederiksted.
The site is also just north of Butler Bay, where AT&T installed similar cables in 1997. That project was mired in controversy, however, after the company's contractors illegally discharged tens of thousands of gallons of drilling mud into the water. The bentonite drilling mud, used as a lubricant, killed coral and scores of marine creatures, alleged the V.I. government.
The government then sued AT&T and after a protracted legal battle a settlement of several million dollars was reached.
As Global Crossing's project makes its way through the approval stage, Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg said he will review all the documents relating to the proposal.
"We are all too familiar with the AT&T mud spill at Butler Bay," Donastorg said. "And we must see that this new applicant does not make the same mistakes."
Donastorg said he wants to ensure that the company has contingency plans in place in case problems arise. He also said he will reexamine the fee schedule companies pay to use territorial waters when placing cables.
Global Crossing is already in the process of constructing its cable landing and switching building in Estate Northside.
"I think the public deserves to know who is coming into our backyard to do business," Donastorg said.
The committee will meet at 10 a.m. on Thursday on St. Thomas. For more information, call Donastorg's office at 693-3665.

Residents seeking licenses as insurance agents, adjusters and brokers are advised that the exams are scheduled for 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Sep. 29, at the Division of Personnel Testing Room of the GERS Building.
Applicants are required to pay a $25.00 registration prior to the exam and to be in the testing room at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the exam. The exam covers property and casualty insurance or life and health insurance.
For additional details on the examination, contact Claudette Georges at 774-7166.

Registration for the evening programs offered at the Wheatley Skill Center closes at 3 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 8.
Tuition for these classes is $100 and is payable only by money order. Classes begin Monday, Oct. 4 and end on Feb. 4, 2000.
The following programs are being offered:
Typing
Carpentry
Micro-computer applications
Cosmetology
Electronics
Masonry
Diesel Engine Mechanics

What if we had an Army-run high school in the Virgin Islands? Would it make a difference? I bet it would.
I read with excitement an article in the San Juan Star of Sept. 9, of the first-ever public military academy in the nation. It has just opened with 150 students in inner-city Chicago and its aim is to send students to college.
Officials there run the school under a military regimen and students are carefully selected who can handle this type of environment. The principal comes from the National Guard and the students attend classes in ROTC uniforms. They say that the school runs on strict behavior codes and operates year round. Parents are required to volunteer at the school.
In the Virgin Islands we have a long history of pride in being part of the military and we already have students who are part of the ROTC. I have frequently heard that per capita we have always had more young people joining the military than elsewhere in the United States.
Whether this is true or not, many young people clearly see the military as a means of achieving stability, an opportunity to improve their lives or secure their future.
We have also seen many parents send their children to private, costly military academies on the mainland. Matter of fact, there is even one that annually advertises in a local newspaper and sends recruiters here.
With this history in mind, coupled with the limited local opportunities for our young people (more graduates from high school per year than jobs created) and the ongoing problems in our public school system, why not reach out to the Army and find out if they would like to use the
Virgin Islands as their second site when they expand? I think Virgin Islanders would warmly embrace the school.
One thing that stuck in my mind after reading the story, were the comments of a young girl enrolled in the school: " . . . I hung out in the streets with the wrong crowd. I think this will help me to do better."
Wouldn't it be great for us to hear many of our young people saying this? Wouldn't it be great for our young people to be exposed year round to positive role models they could emulate?
Perhaps our powers that be, or the movers and shakers of this community, will look into this program and the benefits that we could derive from it. Perhaps they will start a dialogue at least to explore it as a viable option; I hope so. We need as many positive opportunities for youth as we can garner.
I am told the V.I. National Guard is looking into starting a "boot camp" for troubled youth; perhaps they can also dedicate time to starting a public military academy to reduce the future need
for things like "boot camps." I am sure that we have sufficient retired military and educational personnel who would gladly rise to the challenge of developing this plan.
What will all this take? Let us at least find out.
Editors' note: Catherine Lockhart-Mills of St. Thomas, a former Human Services commissioner, holds a master's degree in social work. You can send comments to her on the articles she writes or topics you would like her to address at source@viaccess.net.